I get the impression that this book was designed for people who don't usually read books. I'm not trying to be snarky (or not really), but the format is totally disorienting. I started reading it as a Kindle book and was so confused by all the jumping around between photos, sidebars, inset boxes, and captions that I checked out the library book, figuring it'd be easier to read. It really wasn't. The pages, rather than being straight text in blocks are divided into three text columns a la People magazine, with photos and pull-quotes inset into the page, and tidbits printed in the margins.

I'd much rather just read a book. There was some interesting information in here, but it was very thin and shallow. The best thing the book did was to describe the often-disorienting fate of the American heiress who married an English nobleman. She'd been bred and reared to attract an Englishman, but was woefully unprepared to actually be married to one. The sense of loneliness, disappointment, confusion, and misplaced expectations was very well done.

However, the rest of the books was mainly a gossip column about who married (or was slept with or hunted or snubbed) whom, how much money everyone was worth, how much everything (the dress, the house, the wedding) cost, who was or wasn't invited, and what everyone said about it. What wasn't touched on (and what I found appalling) were all the obviously corseted women including one seven months (!!!) pregnant. I'd have been interested to hear more about the physical ramifications of corsets (because I know there were some) instead of all this fluff.

It was mildly entertaining and could be amusingly snarky in portions. But overall, this really isn't a book I'd recommend.